1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to finger nail clippers, more specifically, to clippers for cutting long natural or artificial nails in a single stroke.
2. Description of the Background Art
It has long been desired to cut long natural and artificial fingernails in a single stroke without chipping or cracking the nail and to eliminate the time, mess, and imprecision associated with the standard type of shear nail cutter. Present single stroke nail cutters are of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,190, issued to Reiswig on Aug. 15, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,507, issued to Clark on Oct. 1, 1974.
Both of the aforementioned patents teach the use of a planar nail cutter, in which a shearing blade is actuated by squeezing a pair of pivotally connected handles. This configuration requires a multitude of precision machined components in order to effectuate its operation. These planar nail cutters comprise a removable blade which is releasably connected to a handle for reciprocating movement in a slot-type passageway by a push/pull link, the link being pivotally connected to a handle by a pin. The clipper further provides a tension spring mechanism to provide the force necessary to keep the clipper assembly in an open and "armed" position. The disadvantages of such an assembly is the unnecessary complexity required in its fabrication, the necessity for maintenance and the tendency of the blade to fall out of alignment. Therefore a need exists for a simple single-stroke nail cutter which accomplishes the same desired results as the prior art but through simple and efficient design which does not require expensive machining and extensive assembly procedures.